As we PS-ed in last week’s rug post, our hunt for a new master bedroom dresser recently came to a surprise end. We’d been trying to find something to replace this old Malm dresser that we’ve had for 5+ years (we literally bought it on an Ikea stop the day we moved from NYC to Richmond in a big red minivan) which will soon go live in the guest room.
It’s clearly too small for the wall. It’s not 100% functional anymore (the middle drawer got little wonky during the move) and it has a few visible battle scars from bouncing around our last house (at various points it lived in our bedroom, our guest bedroom, and finally the sunroom).
So we wanted something bigger. And something a little curvy and ornate (for some contrast to the modern elements in the room, like Ed the Bed and our big snowball-ish light fixture). Because we don’t want our bedroom to feel like a modern furniture showroom, we want it to have that layered, collected over time look. We both liked the idea of a dresser that was up on turned legs, especially since our bed also has a leggy design, so that similarity might tie the old dresser and the modern bed together in a not too obvious way. You know for a nice marriage of old meets new. And of course we wanted something that we could rescue (who doesn’t love “saving” sad old furniture) but we’d been unsuccessfully perusing thrift stores and stalking craigslist for weeks with nada. And then it happened. A dresser miracle. The perfect piece materialized seemingly out of nowhere. And by nowhere I mean my parents’ bedroom.
My mom and dad are actually prepping to downsize to a smaller house (now that their nest is empty) so they’ve been trying to find new homes for lots of their old stuff (I’ve already inherited stacks of old photos, school papers, childhood art projects, etc). So when we spotted my dad’s dresser on a recent visit we asked if they were planning to keep it (since it was old, leggy, and pretty much the perfect width). The answer: “Nope, we’re planning to put it on craigslist. Unless you want to take the old clunker off of our hands?”
“Uh, yes please.” Cue the cartwheels by Sherry in the background.
Turns out they’d be in our neighborhood to babysit our nephew two days later so they brought it down (we assumed it might take a few weeks to mosey over). Best dresser surprise ever. And that’s how we ended up with this beauty pretty much out of nowhere:
It’s bigger than our old Ikea dresser, so it fills up that wall properly. It’s also more traditional looking, so it balances out the modern pieces like Ed the Bed and the light fixture (just as we hoped). It also makes us really excited to get some old night tables in a similar tone and shape to further tie our whole old meets new thing together. Possibly with the same cool ring-pulls (we could also order those online and add them later) and a few drawers for concealed bedside storage, which we’ve always wanted.
And just as we hoped, it could use a little love (one of the drawers was busted when we got it, so I whipped out my screwdriver and whistled while I worked to get it secure again). Took about ten minutes. But (spoiler alert) that’s pretty much the extent of our “work” on the dresser for now. We’re not planning to paint or stain it. Even though we were excited at the idea of re-staining or painting an old seen-better-days piece, we just can’t justify that whole dog and pony show this time around. And this isn’t the polite way of saying that my parents wouldn’t let us touch it (in fact, they were dying to see what we’d do). We actually think the warm wood color works really well with the cool tones on the walls and in the bedding (while bringing out the honey tones in the curtains, the jute rug, and the gold leaves in the duvet). Plus as you can see from this shot…
… the rustic wide plank floors in the bedroom need more than just a little work (they’re discolored, stained, and splintering in a number of places). So we plan to refinish them in a darker mocha tone, along with the rest of the hardwoods in the house for a nice cohesive effect. So that should make the warm wood dresser feel even more special once it doesn’t blend into the floor quite as much. Especially if we have two antique-looking nightstand friends going on the other side of the room in the same warm wood tone (maybe we’ll get to refinish some old dark craigslist/thrift store finds with some lighter stain to get a not-perfect-but-good-enough “match”).
We’re totally charmed by our hand-me-down dresser’s imperfections, and love how they preserve the history of the piece. Maybe we’re being overly nostalgic since this is our first item of inherited “antique” furniture, but there’s something special about knowing the back story. My dad bought it from his cousin back in the ’60s for $100 and has used it ever since. It still boasts a scratch on the front of one of the drawers from when he transported it in his car’s trunk over forty years ago.
We don’t know exactly how old the piece is, but it has a stamp in the back of one of the drawers that says it was made by the “Abernathy Furniture Co” and they appear to have started operations in the 1850’s in Kansas (thanks Google).
After a couple days of using it I realized it possesses some weird auditory memories for me. When I heard Sherry opening and closing the drawers from the other room, the sound of the metal pulls clanging against the wood gave me distinct flashbacks to hearing the same noise coming from down the hall growing up. Weird how sounds can do that to you, right?
The only other “work” it really needed (besides a few screws to secure that broken drawer rail) was some help getting the drawers to slide more easily (each one of them stuck and dragged a little bit). Sherry had heard the old “rub soap on them” tip a few times, so she broke out a bar of Dove that we had leftover from her mom and stepdad’s visit (we use Dr. Bronner’s soap, but she worried “eco soap” might not be the same).
Off she went rubbing the dry bar of soap on each of the rails. Both on the bottom of the drawers…
…and even on the tracks inside the dresser itself, in an attempt to “wax” them so they’d slide more easily without catching.
The verdict on this little trick? It made a noticeable difference, but it didn’t solve things 100%.
For being a totally free solution, we’re happy we gave it a try. But if you guys have any other suggestions for helping this baby slide a bit better, please share ’em. We’re thinking we might try wax or something.
As for what’s on the dresser, the big white lacquered box is a charging station that we got at Pottery Barn Outlet a while back (as seen in this road trip video), the ceramic egg crate is full of Sherry’s jewelry, the table fan is for the summer, the two white bowls are full of Sherry’s bracelets/necklaces/glasses, and the three frames are pics that Sherry and I snapped on each of our wedding anniversaries. And yes, there’s a ceramic animal friend worked in there too thanks to my weird wife (a bronze ceramic pig that she found at HomeGoods for $6 a few weeks ago). I actually think the dark bronze twist is kind of cool, but don’t tell her I said that or it’ll feed her strange addiction.
Now for the bigger picture. Here are some more bedroom photos, just so you can see how the new dresser plays with the other things in the room (which is most definitely still “in progress” and in need of some art, a nice long bench, a big white built-in or cabinet to the left of the bed to balance the door, those aforementioned leggy honey-colored night stands, and maybe even some new table lamps among other things).
Should be a good time (or not, depending on what we find and how many places we have to go- haha, there’s the husband perspective on shopping). In the end, as exciting as resolving our dresser dilemma is – one of the best parts is that we’re finally able to move some of our clothes out of piles in the closet and into proper storage (four full drawers of it). Which means after 3+ months of living here with mountains of shirts and pajamas on the floor of the closet thanks to a smaller dresser with one inoperable drawer, we officially have no more excuses for not organizing things. Uh oh.
So that’s our first antique hand-me-down adventure. Or “furniture inheritance experience” if you’re fancy. And I’m not gonna lie. It does feel kind of fancy. The idea that we own something older than my dad is, in the words of Miley Cyrus, “pretty cool” (anyone else watching SNL lately?). Even if it’s a little beat up and didn’t come from an auction house. Have you guys ever gotten something especially awesome or particularly sentimental handed down from a family member? Anyone run into the moral dilemma of whether or not to make changes to it? We got lucky in this instance (since my mom and dad were more eager to refinish it than we were) but we know that might not always be the case. Sticky.
Pssst- Wanna see how we completely refinished an old craigslist dresser with stain and paint for Clara’s nursery? Click here.
Samantha says
Don’t know if someone already posted this to you, but you’re on the main page of msn.com!
http://realestate.msn.com/blogs/listed.aspx?feat=4b0f6521-254c-4eb0-9fe5-e19bb5c6e73b>1=35009
YoungHouseLove says
Sweet! Thanks for the link Samantha!
-John
Sheryl J says
I’m loving how the bedroom is coming along. Great mix of colors, textures and patterns. The dresser looks great for it being so old.
Are you guys planning on keeping the leather chair? I just feel like it’s sucking alot of the life out of the room… But I know you guys love to work with that you got.
YoungHouseLove says
Yup, just working with what we’ve got. Who knows what’ll end up there in the long-term plan, but for now it’s great!
xo,
s
Candi says
The dresser looks great! I Have one question though…you said your mom gave you stacks of photos, art projects etc. Where do you “hide” all of that stuff? I have 2 boy’s in daycare and they find it necessary to send every piece of paper with one mark on it home…and I have no idea what to do with all of it!!
YoungHouseLove says
I figure if my parents didn’t even want it anymore, there was no pressure for us to keep it all. So we went through it and pulled out two drawings that we love (which we plan to hang in the frame gallery that we just added to our hallway). The rest got enjoyed and then tossed, just because we knew keeping it all in a box in some closet wouldn’t really make sense. It’s not like we’d ever open the box again and look at it.
-John
charlotte says
Love the dresser! How about a cool old Mirror above it? I wish I had a source for cool old furniture. I do have an old cedar chest that my great aunt gave me. It needs refinishing desperately, but I am not sure I’m the one for the job. There are lots of little indents on it that would need to be stripped and that scares me. Any advice?
YoungHouseLove says
We thought about a mirror but since there’s one above the sink vanity on the same wall we didn’t want it to be too mirror heavy so we’re going to go with some art instead. As for refinishing, click the link on the bottom of this post for another post all about how we refinished an old dresser. It’s actually not too hard! Good luck!
xo,
s
Lisa says
Maybe you can sand down the tracks a little bit. I have an antique armoire that had sticky doors. I took a little off the top with an electric sander and they no longer stick.
Brittany says
We got new furniture and the drawers were not sliding well. The company sent out a man to fix them and all he did was use a light grit sand paper. He sanded both the track and the piece that fits into the glider! Worked like a charm! Blessings! SHINE
Carol Adams says
The dresser is absolutely charming!
I’m sure “Ed” enjoys having the new addition to the room!
Laura says
I recently came upon YHL (via BabyCenter) and love it! My husband and I are the same ages as you (except opposite, I’m older) and we have a 9 month-old named Clare. The similarities don’t end there and are a little creepy! We’re moving into a brand new house soon and I’m super duper excited to use some of your decorating suggestions, as it will be the first place we’re not renting. Yay for DIY decorating!
Now to my question: My mom is giving us the bedroom set that I grew up with, a wedding gift for my great grandparents. So many memories! It’s a beautiful walnut, once painted avocado green (so classy in the 60’s!) and refinished by my grandma. The bed and dresser will be perfect in the guest room, but it also has a beautiful vanity with a big mirror and cute blue velvet-covered stool. Any reader ideas what to do with a vanity in this day and age? I mean, I could use it to painstakingly apply my make-up every day, but I was thinking about using it somewhere else. Thanks in advance for the help! Keep up the happy blogging!
Laura says
P.S. I’ve used canning wax in the past on sticky drawers. It’s cheaper than a new candle and useful in other areas of the house. (don’t ask me where because I can’t think of any right now!)
YoungHouseLove says
We’ve seen them put in other rooms and used as desks! Sometimes splitting up a set like that is nice. Anyone else have ideas for Laura?
xoxo,
s
Rhiannon says
The dresser is great, but even more so is that incredible view from your bed! I can’t get over how perfect it is. The doorway, the window, the mirror, the reflection of the globe light. Perfect. It’s so magical, I could stare at it all day!
laura says
hi youngsters!
longtime reader, wannabe RIC-er and fellow Wahoo here (and while we’re on the subject of similarities, sherry, i was pregnant with my son and due a few weeks before you last year and i also had a placental abruption, except mine happened at 33 weeks – the stinker – who is now a happy, healthy just turned one year old!). anyway, i had to reach out, blog-style, with this post. i heart inherited furniture. congrats on your dresser! my parents were divorcing as my husband and i were buying our first home a few years back. and we were “gifted” my family’s dining room set (a gorgeous dark wood trestle table, coordinating hutch and 8 chairs). it was the first piece of furniture my parents bought when they were married, straight out of 1976. the table traveled with them from long island to northern virginia and now to us in carolina. so many of my childhood memories involve that table. and now, i love creating new memories in my own home with my children in it. the best part – one of the chairs has a missing rung on the back from where i broke it bending over to blow out the candles on my dad’s birthday cake one year. we still have the rung and could easily fix it, but it’s a funny quirk that reminds me of my childhood. ;)
YoungHouseLove says
Aw that’s so sweet! Also, so great to hear that your son is doing awesome and is already one! Time flies.
xo,
s
Sarah@StyleandCentsability says
You are the perfect person to ask…
Which dresser do you think I should get?!
http://styleandcentsability.wordpress.com/
YoungHouseLove says
They’re both awesome so you can’t really go wrong! It just comes down to the space… if the second one is bigger than you’d like maybe going with the first one makes more sense since it’s the perfect size? Good luck!
xo,
s
Kelly says
I’ve heard the candle wax idea before. One thing to consider is that Dove is not pure soap – it has a lot of moisturizers and other ingredients. I wonder if a bar of Ivory or other traditional soap would work better?
YoungHouseLove says
I thought about that too since they have those commercials about how it leaves less build up! I though, maybe that’s a bad thing when you’re using it to wax drawers! Haha.
xo,
s
B says
new reader here – this is probably a question that is either 1) dumb or 2) pointless due to how quickly things get discontinued, but WHERE did you get that bedding? (I went the cheap route this last time with some Target stuff really aimed at dorms, and I’m still happy with my tiffany blue/turquoise curtains (really add a needed pop of color in my white walled rental) but the quilt is coming undone already in less than a year so I’m looking for something that will match since I love the switch to these particular colors…
YoungHouseLove says
That was from West Elm only about three months back. Maybe they still have it? Or try ebay? Good luck!
xo,
s
Lynn says
Try going over the “new” dresser with some Old English Polish (you can get it at the grocery store, or probably Target, etc). It will cover the scratches.
cait says
Serendipity! I started smiling like a loon when I saw that your ‘new’ dresser is from the Abernathy Furniture Company, their old furniture manufacturing building has been redone into a fabulous space where my fiance and I are getting married next month! :) We have been putting together a history of the building to share with our guests, and Abernathy’s old paint still adorns the bricks on the outside of the building.
YoungHouseLove says
Amazing! Love that. It’s such a small world.
xo,
s
Laura says
What a coincidence! I just removed two ring pulls from an old dresser that I repainted and they look almost exactly like those. If you want them for your future nightstands let me know and I will mail them to you. I don’t have a use for them.
Room looks great!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw that’s so sweet Laura!
xo,
s
Tammy Wirt says
I got an email from Kirkland’s and a few things caught my eye…just thought I’d share with you.
http://www.kirklands.com/product/Cabrillo-End-Table/156448.uts?keyword=end%20table
http://www.kirklands.com/product/FURNITURE/Tables/Rectangular-Bedside-Table/pc/2285/c/0/sc/2300/156535.uts
YoungHouseLove says
Sweet! Thanks for the links.
xo,
s
Emily Caltagirone says
I was gifted with my grandparents bedroom set, which they got as a wedding present in 1944. Its gorgeous dark wood with similar elements to your new dresser. We currently use the dresser regularly in the master, the bed and nightstand are in my stepsons room and the vanity and bench are in storage (not enough room in our 1200 sq. ft. townhouse). What I would LOVE to find is a way to convert the bed from a double to a queen (my husband and I cannot sleep on anything smaller). Any advice?
YoungHouseLove says
We’ve never tackled that but it sounds like fun. Have you tried googling to see if there are tutorials on that? Anyone else have advice for Emily?
Good luck!
xo,
s
ann @ my life as prose. says
wax paper. i know i’m like 8 days late to this… but i worked at talbots while in college, and part of our closing duties were to rub down the hardware on the wall and floor fixtures with the waxy side of wax paper so that the hangers would glide over the rails.
idk if wood will work as well… and i’m SURE someone else has suggested this in the 4 million comments above… but i figured i’d put my vote out there :)
jettstream says
A bit late with this but I just came across it today. I love not-your-father’s-dresser, so I was struck immediately by this one: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-DbG2j0Y6Mj8/TYg3kmqZKuI/AAAAAAAAATQ/iON2y46c3Io/s1600/cancer+122+crop.jpg
Thought you would find it interesting too, though I’m sure it’s a very different treatment than the one you plan for yours. (In case the link to the photo doesn’t work, go to this blog post (you’ll have to scroll nearly to the end of the post to see what I’m talking about): http://fineandhandy.blogspot.com/2011/03/if-you-know-me-in-real-life-you-already.html
Love your blog,
Jane Ann
YoungHouseLove says
Gorgeous! That looks just like ours. Wow!
xo,
s
megan beth says
My mom has always used Silicone Spray…a little on each side and it will slide super smooth! http://www.amazon.com/Professional-Silicone-Spray-WDC10141-Category/dp/B00065VGW0
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the tip!
xo,
s
Joi says
I know you guys said you may want to DIY a bench for the end of your bed, but when I ran across this, I instantly thought of the two of you!
http://www.homedecorators.com/P/Martha_Stewart_Living_Lombard_Long_Bench/820/
YoungHouseLove says
So pretty!
xo,
s
Taryn says
In the wonderful world of retail, we rub wax paper on both wood and metal racks to make the hangers slide beautifully, it may just do the trick for your sticky situation (pun always intended)
:)
Macy Dawn says
I am SOoo happy Sherry nabbed that little pig! I had spotted several of these pigs at my local HomeGoods and instantly thought of her! I am on a ceramic animal binge after purchasing three sheep heads for our bathroom :)
Mary says
I was in desperate need of a desk when my mom surprised me with my great-great aunt’s Singer sewing machine built-in table. My more modern sewing machine currently occupies the top, but I can’t wait until I can begin restoring the antique Singer inside.
And I may be late to the rodeo, but I used skateboard wax on an old dresser and it worked like a charm :)
Jackie says
Hi!
My father in law recently gave us an old dresser that we spruced up as well. Like your bedroom, ours was mostly IKEA furniture and it was nice to get a more stately piece in there! We weren’t sure what to do with it when we first got it but a trip to Pier 1 gave us the perfect inspiration for a redo! And of course you guys incorporating a similar piece into your IKEA room was also inspiration. Here’s our redo!
http://fromthesilkcity.blogspot.com/
Jackie
YoungHouseLove says
Sweet! What an awesome makeover. Congrats!
xo,
s
Bonny says
try ivory bar soap, it works much better on the slides for wooden dressers…
RubberChickenGirl says
Nooooo, not the Nester’s evil ram!!?
RCG
YoungHouseLove says
As far as we know ours isn’t evil. Haha. He’s pretty sweet actually. Very mannerly.
xo,
s
RubberChickenGirl says
PS. Did anyone suggest bees wax to you for the sliders? I didn’t read all four hundred something posts to find out. You can buy bees wax in the sewing notions to poke your needles and pins into to make them slippery-ier (sp).
RCG
YoungHouseLove says
Yup, that came up a few times. Love it!
xo,
s
Laura Lough says
Hi there – Love your room! Can you tell me the colour of paint on the walls and where you got it?
Thanks so much!
YoungHouseLove says
That’s Carolina Inn Club Aqua by Valspar. Hope it helps!
xo
s
Liz says
Dove is 100% soap-free! (It’s a “beauty bar.”) That may be the problem…
Mika The Cat Lover says
That’s awesome! I was just wondering if you could help me with my own similar situation… I have a dresser from when I was a baby and I recently painted it white (From your posts I can tell that’s one of your favs) and then I also added a pop of gecko green to the drawers. The over all “Style” of the room is cultural with Chinese lanterns, Modern with some tasteful knick-knacks, and vintage with some old reprinted furniture… Do you know of a knob style that could tie evertything together? Should I go basic? Or bold?
YoungHouseLove says
I would bring home a few knob options and just hold them up in the room against the piece and see what you like. Then just return the ones that don’t work and get enough of the ones you love to do the whole piece. Your room sounds really pretty! Good luck Mika!
xo
s
Kathryn says
That dresser looks so much like mine that I did a double-(okay, quadruple)-take!
It’s beautiful though, and I really wish mine was in such good condition. I’ve been thinking about painting mine, so maybe I’ll go for it now! (Yay, inspiration!)